Tag: EuroChem

EuroChem's CEO confirmed in the Russian press yesterday that the company still intends to build its massive greenfield nitrogen plant in Louisiana. This article introduces some of the changing market conditions that will impact, for better or for worse, EuroChem's final investment decision.

I've published recent updates on four greenfield nitrogen plants that hope to break ground in 2017, potentially adding 1.8 million tons of ammonia capacity in the US.

The project pipeline is long, however, and others are making progress too. This article provides updates on another four projects that, together, could add more than 4 million tons to North American ammonia capacity through 2022.

While we wait for the current slate of new ammonia plants to start up this year, here's a reminder of the projects that are still in development across North America.

More than a dozen major ammonia plants are in various stages of planning or financing. None of these have started construction yet. Some have been stuck in limbo for years, while others keep making progress. The project pipeline represents a potential investment of over $20 billion and additional ammonia capacity of more than 9 million tons per year.

Obviously, not every project will move ahead - in fact, conventional wisdom says none will - but new trends are emerging that may influence their success or failure.

EuroChem announced an MOU for the engineering, procurement, and construction of their proposed ammonia-urea plant in Louisiana.

Their US greenfield is one of five projects that they plan to develop over the next ten years, all covered under this MOU: the others are in Russia (an ammonia-urea plant in Nevinnomyssk, an ammonia plant in Kingisepp, and a urea plant in Kingisepp) and Kazakhstan (an ammonia-urea plant in Zhanatas).

These expansions would give EuroChem a gross ammonia capacity of around 8 million mtpy.

Yesterday, Bloomberg published an article about EuroChem's Louisiana greenfield ammonia plant with the headline "EuroChem Shelves $1.5 Billion U.S. Plant as Sanctions Bite" ... which is misleading.

EuroChem company reps clarified via e-mail, saying that the Louisiana greenfield "remains on track with its original schedule" and suggesting that the article, which was accurate in its original Russian, suffered from "subjective interpretation by the Bloomberg translator."

Nonetheless, it was quickly picked up in the media, including Green Markets. The article quoted EuroChem CFO Andrey Ilyin:

"The decision on the project is delayed due to changes on the financial markets, namely affected access to credit resources ... The ruble's devaluation also made development of such projects more attractive in Russia."

SUMMARY STATUS:Planning phase
EuroChem has been planning an ambitious entry into the US fertilizer industry, developing one of the largest nitrogen complexes on the continent. However, there's been no public news of progress since 2017. The company didn't announce many details but the vast scale of the project was disclosed in permit documents, including applications for air and water permits in 2016, both of which are ongoing. EuroChem announced a MOU toward an EPC contract in April 2015. Awaiting the full EPC award announcement and a final investment decision from EuroChem's board.